Why Azula Smiles
by Zire-7
Summary: While trying to survive a ten hour drive to their family's beach house Azula reflects on the events that brought her and a certain blind earthbender together. Written for a contest on Deviantart and it is AU.


**Why Azula Smiles**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Avatar the Last Airbender or its characters  
>I do not own Avril Lavigne's song Smile<br>I own only the plots/ideas/situations that I have placed them in.**

**As stated in the summery this was written for a contest on Deviantart**  
><strong>and it had several themes to choose from.<strong>

**My themes are: Modern Avatar and Vacation**  
><strong>I <span>STRONGLY<span> recomend listening to Smile either before, after, or while you read this.**

**Oh and here are Ze pairings for this**

**Mai X Zuko**  
><strong>Azula X Toph<strong>

* * *

><p>There was a fly buzzing around in the car and the only reason she knew this, was because it just flew in front of her. Lazily she tracked its movements with her piercing gold eyes.<p>

If it wasn't for her skull candies there was no doubt that she would be able to hear its annoying insistent buzzing. Round and round and round it went, circling in the car's stale air, hopelessly searching for an escape. _Yeah, you and me both buddy. _

It was maddening being cupped up in a stuffy car with Zuzu, his girlfriend, and her parents. Not to mention the torture normally didn't end for a total of ten hours. Every year it was the same; her parents would ask for time off from their respective bosses who always agreed, then she was forced to back a few bags, and off they went on their annual family vacation for three months.

Its not that she despised their beach house, more the method of transportation. _At least I'll be able to firebend and maybe some lightning too. _

Before leaving for this year's vacation she asked if she could drive there herself. Naturally, as she knew they would, her parents or rather her mother spouted off some B.S. about spending time with the family and whatnot. Nastily she pointed out that Zuzu's tagalong wasn't family. But no, her mother's favorite always got what he wanted.

All she ever got was the receiving end of her father's temper and her mother's contempt. Try as she might nothing she did or could do seemed to lessen her mother's displeasure of her.

"_Why don't you make more friends?"  
>"I'm sure that if you tried really hard to, you could make a few more friends?"<br>"Why can't you be more like your brother or more like girls?" _

Every single day, these questions were rapid fired her way and the answers remained the same: "I have friends but I guess two aren't enough for you." "Trying harder just terrifies them more." "Because dad would strangle me and most girls are pathetic. So I'd rather not."

However, whenever she wished to voice a few questions of her own to her mother, they always came out in a whisper to low for her to hear: "Why can you just accept me for who I am? Not who you wish I didn't remind you of?"

Secretly she wished that her mother knew exactly what her husband did at his 'job'. Although she knew that was as unlikely as wings sprouting from her back.

Half of their family's money stemmed from her father's position as a Cleaner for the Dai Lee. These guys were far deadlier then any mafia organization on the planet. Because you couldn't join them unless you were a bender. Firebender, waterbender, airbender, or earthbender it didn't' matter which so long as you were one.

When she was seven, her father tried to sign her up for advanced placement but things went south after her mother saw the bruises. Vividly she could still recall that day perfectly. The only day when her mother put her foot down and told Ozai flat out no. Remembering that day had a faint smile creeping its way across her face.

Upon seeing the unusual and or foreign expression on her friend's face she felt uneasy all of a sudden. Rather then waiting to find out what the ice queen had planned she leaned forward and tapped her on the shoulder.

In one perfect synchronized motion the prodigy turned her attention to the back of the van and had removed the left ear bud from her ear. "Need something?"

"Um…what were you smiling about just now?" asked a bewildered, and an even more uneasy gothic teenager upon hearing the civilized tone she used. Nor could she recall the last time that she had seen her friend smiling, _I honestly believed that smiling wasn't something that she could do. _

"The first and last time that my mother showed the minuscule amount of love that she has for me." her words left both Mai and Zuko speechless, "Anything else that you want to ask me, because I'm missing out on my favorite song."

Taking their stunned silence for an answer she shrugged and placed the ear bud over her left ear, cranking the volume up while she did so.

* * *

><p><em><strong>You know that I'm a crazy bitch<br>I do what I want when I feel like it  
>All I wanna do is lose control<br>But you don't really give a shit  
>you don't let it go let it go with it<br>'cause you're fucking crazy rock'n'roll**_

* * *

><p><em>The collective breathing of the watching student body had froze mid breath as the blind earthbender rose from the ground after literally bumping into Azula Obsidian, knocking her to the ground as well, "Watch were your going, clumsy earthbender." <em>

_Without bothering to dust off her already earth coated clothes, smirking she retorted "Can't really do that when your blind." her smirking mouth was the only part of her face that was visible. _

"_That's no excuse." she scoffed. "Next time, I'll burn those precious feet of yours." Her satisfaction grew as she saw the smirk rapidly disappearing from the girl's face. Standing she shook the excess amounts of dirt off of her clothes and brushed past the silent earthbender. _

"_I'd love to see you try, Joker." that smirk was back in place as she felt the barely perceptible faltering of the girl's gait before the two continued on their way. Both feeling somewhat exhilarated at the exchange. But neither one were prepared for the events that that one singular meeting would set in motion._

* * *

><p><em><strong>You said "Hey,What's your name?"<br>it took one look  
>and now I'm not the same<br>Yeah you said "Hey."  
>and since that day<br>you stole my heart  
>and you're the one to blame<strong>_

* * *

><p>Zuko you bastard its all your fault! <em>She thought despairingly as she learned that the concert tickets were all sold out. The only thing that she'd been looking forward to ever since the new album had come out was the concert. But of course because going to the concert was something that made her happy, Zuko and Mai just had to come along and ruin everything. <em>

"_Oh it won't take but a minute, please Azula, please. Just distract dad for us and will be back in fifteen minutes." _

_The mere thought of what occurred earlier in the day made her want to set every house in their neighborhood on fire. It hadn't taken fifteen minutes you son of a bitch. She raged internally but the stem of her anger came from Zuzu actually managing to pull a fast one on her. _

"_Hey, Azula is it?" _

That voice! _Slowly she turned to face the speaker and couldn't believe what she saw. _There is no way that she's the blind earthbender from school.

"_Yeah, that's me." she hissed, acutely aware that she sounded like a bitch but was to angry to care._

_Disbelievingly she saw the earthbender shrug off the cold tone_, _"I just came over to give you one of my spare tickets to her concert because the friend I was gonna go with bailed on me. And seeing as how I felt rather then saw your distress at not being able to go. I thought what the hell, I don't have a use for this extra ticket, its not like I need the money I would get from scalping it. So why not help a fellow Avril fan out?"_

"_What's the catch?" _

_For a second she thought that the blind earthbender didn't understand her question until she saw the look on the girl's face. A look she recognized, it was the same look that she used to frighten her fellow students. However this time it was directed at her and it sent shivers down her spine, "The catch," she smiled a 'predator cornered its prey' smile as she continued, "is that you're my date for the concert."_

* * *

><p><em><strong>Yeah<br>and that's why I smile  
>It's been a while<br>since every day and everything has  
>felt this right<br>and now you turn it all around  
>and suddenly you're all I need<br>The reason why I smile**_

* * *

><p>"<em>I don't suppose you know where we can find decent food at two a.m. after a concert, Toph." sighed a rarely smiling ice queen as the two wondered aimlessly down main street. <em>

"_Actually, I think I know just the place. But for safety reasons you'll have to wear a blind fold. The guy who owns the place is paranoid, which is stupid really because only an earthbender can find the damn place or even get to it." groused Toph to her date, who surprisingly wasn't as mean or as heartless as Katara had told her she was._

_In actuality the firebender was simply anti-social and shy, which was still something that she had a hard time believing._

"_If its really too much trouble then we don't have to go. It's just that I haven't had this much fun on a date before and he'll probably be waiting for me." almost instantly after she had spoke, the firebender wanted to kick herself._

"_Heh, don't worry, your not the only one here who has…lets just say father issues. If my father had any idea that I was out right now, he'd probably have every police officer in the city looking for me." said Toph after picking up on the firebender's near panic. _

_She heard a soft thank you and if she hadn't known any better, there was no way that Azula spoke just then. But it had been her and Toph possessing very keen hearing could hear the Smile in her voice._

* * *

><p><em><strong>Last night I blacked out I think<br>What did you, what did you put in my drink?  
>I remember making out and then, oh, oh<br>I woke up with a new tattoo  
>your name was on me and my name was on you<br>I would do it all over again**_

* * *

><p><em>Wearily she opened her eyes and regretted the grueling effort it took to do that. Much of last night had been a blur after the tea then nothing but brief flashes of colors, sounds, and sensations that all ran together. Both her and Toph had gone out, and then… <em>Holy shit! Did we?

_As the memory of firm lips on hers filled her head, she didn't register her arm moving her hand to her mouth, so her fingers could gliding lightly over her lips, like one does when remembering something unbelievable. Her breathing was shallow as relived the memory of making out with Toph the night before._

_That one memory relieved her annoyance at not being able to remember the rest of the night. She reasoned that as long as she had that memory, she didn't need to remember the rest. Tiredly she rolled over and let out a low pitched cry of agony as though glass was being shoved into her skin._

_Specifically somewhere near her left hip, with effort she managed to drag herself out of bed. To see what the hell it was that was causing her pain. Moving with the pace of a snail the firebender headed into her bathroom and more importantly heading for her floor length mirror that she owned._

_A moments deliberation on whether or not to find out what she had done while under the influence of cactus juice laced tea gripped her. But she knew full well that whatever happened was her girlfriend's doing. So breathing deeply she pulled her shirt up until her abdomen was exposed, it was placed seven or eight inches above her left hip. The tattoo's colors were gold, black, and red. _

A flying boar?

_Upon closer inspection of the ink, she could barely make out the faint outline of Toph's name. _

I wonder if that devil even got a tattoo.

_It was probably the devil who tricked her into getting one in the first place. Rolling her eyes at the though of being tricked into anything the firebender let her shirt fall to cover the tattoo and was weighting the pros and cons of showering or going back to sleep when she heard the nonsense mumbling. _Don't Tell Me…

_Her suspicions were confirmed as soon as she walked out of her bathroom. Smiling faintly she walked to where the snoring earthbender rested, on her floor. Shaking her head at the sight, she crouched down to rouse Toph and see if she couldn't persuade her to sleep on the bed. But paused after catching a glimpse of blue on her skin. _

_The blue ink continued down the length of her entire arm before ending at her wrist with the dragon's head. It was open in a roar, cerulean flames were issuing forth from its mouth. Like with her own tattoo she could faintly make out the outline of her name. "Toph."_

_There was no visible sign from the figure on the floor that she had heard the firebender._

"_Toph, the bacon is getting cold." upon the word bacon she shot bolt upright and, "Bacon whe-" half way through her sentence her nose hadn't picked up on the mouth watering aroma of frying bacon. _

"_You're an evil, evil, and very cruel women Joker."_

"_No, It would be cruel to let you sleep off a hang over on my cold floor." _

"_You know I can't stand mattresses, Firefly." moaned the still tired Toph. Who wanted nothing more then to roll over and re-enter la la land. Nodding her head to acknowledge the logic in what she said, the firebender smiled genuinely, "Yeah but sleeping next to your girlfriend on said uncomfortable mattress can make all the difference." _

_Just as swiftly as she had moved when the firebender spoke the word bacon, she was up and already falling to land face first on the mattress. Giggling quietly at her antics, Azula closed the remaining distance between herself and her bed. Before she had even settled on the mattress Toph was already snuggling up against the very warm firebender. "Good night/morning/whatever Firefly." _

"_Good night, Toph, oh and I love the tattoos." unknown to the firebender as she drifted off, her earthbender's eyes had shot open in surprise. _T-tattoos?

* * *

><p><em><strong>You said "Hey,What's your name?"<br>it took one look  
>and now I'm not the same<br>Yeah you said "Hey."  
>and since that day<br>you stole my heart  
>and you're the one to blame<strong>_

* * *

><p>"<em>Zula, why are you smiling? Your not on drugs are you." questioned a very concerned Ty Lee as she caught sight of her friends face. <em>

"_Hey, Firefly." _

_Before answering her friend she waved, "Hey, Toph." _

"_No, Ty I'm not on drugs. I just have a really good reason to smile." _

_Baffled the cheerleader said, "Does it have something to do with that earthbender?" _

_The firebender's only response was a smile._

* * *

><p><em><strong>Yeah<br>and that's why I smile  
>It's been a while<br>since every day and everything has  
>felt this right<br>and now you turn it all around  
>and suddenly you're all I need<br>The reason why I smile**_

* * *

><p>"<em>Firefly, there's something bothering you isn't there?" her question snapped Azula out of her depressing thoughts. Tightening her grip on the earthbender, "My family's going on vacation for three months and my mother is going to let Mai tagalong with us…" <em>

"_And you're afraid that if you tell your parents about us that they'll send you back to Crescent Iles for the emotionally disturbed." finished the earthbender as her girlfriend trailed off. _

_Instead of answering she just nodded, knowing that Toph would feel the motion. _

"_Firefly don't cry, please. I can't stand it when you do. Beside three months apart is no big deal. An earthbender waits and listens. I can be patient." shifting suddenly the firebender started when she felt calloused finger tips wiping her tears away. "But it'll be difficult though because I'm going to miss your crazy ass." _

_Toph felt the smile on Azula's face through the breath taking kiss._

* * *

><p><em><strong>You know that I'm a crazy bitch<br>I do what I want when I feel like it  
>All I wanna do is lose control<br>You know that I'm a crazy bitch  
>I do what I want when I feel like it<br>All I wanna do is lose control**_

* * *

><p>As the song reached its end she felt the van roll to a stop in front of their beach house. Not even waiting for her mother to pull the keys out of the ignition, the firebender jumped out of the car and was half way through stretch her cramped muscles when she was forced to help unpack the van.<p>

Sighing she headed for the back of the van and had just got the doors open when she heard Zuko exclaim to Mai, "Isn't that Toph Briar-Fielding? I didn't know her family owned a beach house out here."

_Neither did I. Huh…I guess this vacation won't be so bad after all. _

Another smile crept its way across her face only this time as Mai took it in she was struck dumb. _Why would the mention of Toph make her smile?_

Deciding that she would spend her entire vacation, if she had to, to finding out Mai left the ice queen alone for the time being. Waiting patiently for Azula to grab her bags from the van.

She couldn't help but notice a peculiar discoloration on her skin as her t-shirt rode up exposing part of her abdomen and as Azula turned away from the van, she got a good long look at the discoloration. _Why does she have a tattoo and why is it a flying boar? _

"It's why I smile, Mai." her voice was a whisper as she waltzed past the astounded goth. It was always surprising that no matter how high the volume of her music was she always spoke in a quiet tone.

* * *

><p><em><strong>Yeah<br>and that's why I smile  
>It's been a while<br>since every day and everything has  
>felt this right<br>and now you turn it all around  
>and suddenly you're all I need<br>The reason why I smile**_


End file.
